A Young Doctor's Notebook

What do the Brits think?

Dan Rad & John Hamm play the same Russian doctor - 20 or so years apart. It's original, I'll give it that. Don't know how I felt about mining a little girl's amputation for laughs given how graphic the scene was. (Not exactly Walking Dead territory, but still). I do like how Hamm and Radcliffe play off each other.

by Anonymous

reply 16

10/14/2013

Yes, I am bumping my own thread.

by Anonymous

reply 1

12/23/2012

What is this?

by Anonymous

reply 2

12/23/2012

A new television show. Three episodes so far. Radcliffe plays a young doctor just out of the Imperial Medical School who gets assigned to some godforsaken oupost to run a rural hospital.

Hamm plays the same doctor in the 30's being interrogated by the communist authorities for drug addiction. The two versions of the same doctor interact back in the 1910's. There's some gruesome bits of comedy. Radcliffe decides he can do a tooth extraction and winds up taking part of the guys jaw off in the process. He decides to keep the bone to remind himself that he's "a butcher." Later, you see Hamm has indeed kept the bit of jawbone all these years later.

by Anonymous

reply 3

12/23/2012

We've seen the photos of Jon and Dan in the tub together. What's the homo content of the series?

by Anonymous

reply 4

12/24/2012

Aside from a patient with syphillis (or was it gonorrhea) on his penis and in his throat--not much. In another episode you find out the patient's wife is disease free. Hmmmm.

There are scenes of Hamm and Radcliffe in bed, but they're clothed and they're the same character, so unless they do something very interesting re masturbation...

I thought it was Mel Brooks style unsubtle humour and quite honestly nowhere near funny enough. Neither of the actors is particularly well suited to the type of material and they overact when subtle would have been more effective.

I can see it appealing to an older audience who still values slapstick but it's not the dark edgy comedy we were promised.

by Anonymous

reply 7

12/24/2012

"I can see it appealing to an older audience who still values slapstick but it's not the dark edgy comedy we were promised."

I can't tell you how funny this sounds to me.

by Anonymous

reply 8

12/24/2012

I've seen the billboards but it's currently only screening on Sky, which is Murdoch's satellite tv service. I don't know anyone who subscribes. A lot of the programmes discussed on DL, such as Girls, Boardwalk Empire, Glee, True Blood and The Walking Dead are only on Sky so a lot of us don't get to see them until they're picked up by freeview a year or so later.

by Anonymous

reply 9

12/24/2012

R8

Perhaps I read the wrong things, R8 . If it was supposed to be like Young Frankenstein I apologise.

by Anonymous

reply 10

12/24/2012

I was going to watch it but I heard about the amputation scene and gave it a miss. My partner is a right leg amputee above the knee. It still surprises me that the British think that's so funny.

by Anonymous

reply 11

12/24/2012

I also think it's odd they put it on Sky Arts, where most of the content is documentary. They were trying to give it some highbrow cachet which it doesn't merit. It would have been better following that comedy they have about the beach cafe in the West Country.

by Anonymous

reply 12

12/24/2012

is this some kind of adaptation or knock off of A Country Doctor's Notebook by Bulgakov?

by Anonymous

reply 13

12/24/2012

Yes it is R13

by Anonymous

reply 14

12/24/2012

Just started watching thiss on Ovation.

Enjoying it so far, and the play between the old and young character is interesting. Good supporting cast, too.

Only four half-hour episodes, so easy to digest in short helpings.

by Anonymous

reply 15

10/12/2013

That was some gruesome amputation. I blocked the bottom of the screen and fast-forwarded through it.

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